Democratic candidate for governor Nan Rich said Thursday that same-sex marriage is a “critical human rights issue for Florida” and called on Republican state leaders, Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, not to defend the state’s ban.

Rich, of Weston, is former Democratic Party leader in the Florida Senate.

“I opposed this discriminatory amendment when it was proposed because I believe all Florida families deserve to be treated fairly,” Rich said in a statement. “The federal courts are making it clear that marriage equality is a fundamental right, and we shouldn’t waste the time and resources of the state defending this unconstitutional law.”

“Florida’s same-sex marriage ban will ultimately lose in court, and it should,” she said. Scott and Bondi “should embrace equality for all Florida families and let this law die.”

She’s far behind in the polls in the primary campaign with former Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned Democrat.

In 2008, he supported the amendment that added a ban on same-sex marriage to the Florida Constitution. He switched his position last year and apologized to the gay community earlier this month for supporting the 2008 ban. On Tuesday, after six gay couples filed suit to overturn the Florida ban on same-sex marriage, Crist said in a statement that "No one would want to be told they can’t marry the person they love. It’s an issue of fairness and I’m proud to support it.”

Scott, in an interview last year, said he believes in "traditional marriage." The governor said he didn’t remember how he voted in the 2008 ballot question that added the ban to the state Constitution.